Sarabs Blog

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A ride in Delhi metro especially in non peak hours is a relatively quite one expect for the usual official announcements in Hindi and English but that’s true on a normal day not on a day when the biggest hero of 120 million people breaks a world record  so as soon as Sachin pushed Peter Siddle for a single and reached the landmark phones started ringing and within seconds the mostly student filled train was filled with a wave of euphoria …………… that is India for you , this is India which loves Sachin no I am sorry which worships Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Having followed Sachin for most part of his career I was 7 years when he made his debut I think the rise and rise of Sachin has  huge parallel with how India as country has developed , In the last nineteen years since Sachin has been around………………..India has transformed itself  from an economic laggard to a one of the fastest growing economies of the world ……… from a steady hindu rate of growth we are inching towards double digit growth rate ……., we have got a nuclear deal  :) ……   we have youth coming out of colleges no longer longing for a government babu  job …….. but a challenging assignment in some private software company , we have people who are daring to dream beyond the shores of india while staying in india , brain drain has reduced …… we won an Olympic gold medal at last ……we have won more than a few grand slams in tennis , we have golfers in top 100 of the world…….Indian companies have gone around the world and bought some of the biggest brands (read Corus, land rover and Jaguar)…..we are close to sending a mission to moon….. we have left pakistan truly behind (in cricket as well as all walks of life)…We have won bookers prize many times …… we have won a noble for economics ….

I think Indian story has been a reflection of Sachins  story and vice versa   , a story of confident forward march , a story of putting your head high and facing the challenges and trying to win every time ……. setbacks , stones as he said in his press conference and I quote were converted into milestones ……….. Sachin’s journey has acted as an inspiration for us Indians , it has inspired lesser mortals like me  with no history of business in family to walk on the path less traveled and start a tech venture,  moreover it has inspired millions of indians set their eyes on being best in the world and donning  the crown   gracefully , Thank you Sachin for your gracious cover drives, the wristy flicks , the dead straight off and on drives , the might sixes against the spinning wizardry of Shane Warne , thank you for the joy that you have given to millions of people around the country, thank you for inspiring the whole generation to dream and dream big , thank you for teaching us to be gracious in success, thank you for everything ……………

 Today as we stand at cross roads in an  environment filled with uncertainty , let me tell you your trademark off drives still come as a breeze of fresh air for millions of people around the globe………..Thank you.

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Buying a car  is one of the most important decision for most of us , now some body will say with 1 million cars leaving Indian showrooms a year it should not be that big an occasion , but believe me (and it comes from an ex car salesman ) it is , I have seen  people   wait for days for the auspicious day to come and buy a car , and on the designated day whole family as a unit will barge into the show room with their personal pundit (priest) to ensure that everybody including almighty is satisfied , with such high degree of involvement it is obviously not very easy to sell a car more so when interest rate have gone through the roof , inflation is at all time high , people have lost money everywhere from stock market, real estate, to business…………. With the advent of technology user approach might have changed   but the user behavior remains the same 

Let us look at one of the real time user behavior I encountered yesterday…..

At  7:30 pm as the door bell rang and I opened , here I see one of my closest buddies standing out unscheduled and whats more besides him stands a swanky new car that he had bought ………. I was a little jolted because I never had idea that he was planning to buy a car , now it is not because he tells me everything but being a ex-car salesman I know a thing or two about cars , so expected that people around me will take my feedback before buying ……… anyways thinking he might have his reasons , I congratulated him and asked him to take me for a drive , sitting in the car I couldnot stop myself asking him ,how did you take the decision to buy this terrific car, looking at me with a big grin on his face ,”well it was not that difficult simple 5 steps”.
 

1. I decided, how much money I am ready to spend

2. Checked the pictures of all models available in this price (showed it to my wife on the net , used a automated tool to see the what fits our budget/feature matrix, got a good  3D view of every model  )

3. Asked the recommendations about gas spending and repair problems on related forums

4.  Put up an enquiry on one  of the websites asking for a test drive

5. Found the best price and offer on net and asked the concerned person to deliver the car at my doorstep.

Not very difficult hmmmm……….. Well to start with I was relieved that I left my job as a   car salesman , because I might not have had a job now…………:( ,but the thing that stuck me was how technology is changing the way people are making decisions vis a vis high involvemenmt products like cars , having been a car salesman I think Indian marketers atleast majority of them have not completely woken up to the challenge , because I still see them running after the traditional media both for sales and marketing .

So this sets up the agenda for todays post

1.  How important is internet as a medium for  Car Manufacturers/marketers .

2.  How the different players are currently using it in India

3.   What are the possible strategies they can use

1.  How Important is Internet as a Media for Car marketers 

                                                               Source- Yahoo-IMRB Study 

                                                                 Source- Yahoo- IMRB study 

Now two things are clear  after the from above clips . Approximate 30 %  of internet users are   using internet to find out information about cars and people who are looking for cars are  most frequent users of net , so you have a customer segment  which is increasing as I write this post and who will be sitting some where else while you(car marketers) play their multi dollars campaigns on television and print .

How the different players are currently using it in India

So what are the Indians players doing well to start with looking at websites , they have definitely spruced up their websites which look much more user friendly , than before couple of them notably tata motors still carries a archaic design.  Apart from this online banner advertisement s has increased drastically for all the manufacturers , so probably there is some part of the marketing budget and effort that they are devoting to online media .

Niche sites like Carwale.com , carazoo.com, autoindia.com have created a dedicated online space where users can converge and look for there car needs across the segment .

These sites are slowly developing forums with good amount of activity that will help shape decisions of the users .

Possible Online strategies for Car Marketers

1. Contests : Contests can be one big pull for customers fiat used it for the design of 5oo very successfully building contest around product design and marketing campaigns is a great way to keep users interested and build a loyal following , italso helps to create a lot of  viral campaigns.

2. Forum Management: Companies should look at ways to listen to what customers are saying  by studying what is happening at different forums , it should  as a supplement to costly market research studies these companies indulge into , and it is definitely a very cheap and trustworthy supplement.

3. Blogging : Concept of corporate bloggers has not been exploited by the Indian companies, these is one medium which you can use tp reach to the customers as well as prospective employees.

4. Idea Management platforms : The Marketers should look at creating more and more idea management platforms which can be used as an effective tool for product development as well as marketing , these platforms are much better than the simulated platforms which Marketing Research companies try to create.

Consumers behavior today is being shaped by technology, though motivations remain the same , for a more integrated marketing startegy marketers have to look at new channels of opportunities being created .

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